The share of Lignite in the Greek electricity system

To start with, the Greek electricity sector is peculiar in that it consists of the interconnected continental system and of the non-interconnected stand-alone  grids in the islands, where electricity demand is catered to by oil-fired plants and to a smaller extent by RES facilities, in a proportion of approximately 85%-15%.

In the interconnected grid, over the past 10 years the share of lignite in meeting demand has clearly decreased, from 63% in 2004 to 45% in 2014. This decrease has been offset by a similar increase in the shares of RES and hydropower (from 11% to 25%) as well as imports, while the share of natural gas dropped from 15.5% to 12.5% and the share of oil was reduced to zero from 5%.

 

The installed capacity of electricity generation plants in Greece currently stands as follows (as of August 2015):

  • 3,912 MW lignite-fired plants
  • 4,906 MW natural gas-fired plants
  • 1,684 MW oil-fired plants on the islands
  • 3,018 MW hydro plants
  • 1,767 MW wind farms in the interconnected grid and 317 MW on the islands
  • 2,443 MW solar PV parks in the interconnected grid and 136 MW on the islands
  • 224 MW small hydro
  • 49 MW biogas - biomass